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Friday, May 28, 2010

Sarah Palin Speaks, An Incredible (And Delicious) Crazed Stalker Update, BP, And The Inconvenient Truth about Dave Weigel


As promised, a complete update on what is going on in Sarah Palin’s world. We were writing this earlier when we got yet more wild news, and felt we needed to get out it out there. Believe me, this was worth the wait!

To recap:

Sarah Palin has a new neighbor. Stacy Drake details that wonderful moment here.

Washington Post hack, Dave Weigel, proves to the world he’s a total douchebag, as we wrote here.

Ruth Marcus felt left out of the douchebaggery, as Stacy Drake points out here.

We found out that Joe McGinniss has a habit of stalking subjects of his so-called "journalism" and betrayed an innocent man, who is now in prison for murder, after being paid to help the guy, and pretending to be his friend. This one is a must read, here.

As Stacy Drake reported, here, things got even weirder with what we know is a load of BS, supposedly coming from the Palin’s neighbor.

OK, With that out of the way, let’s get to some new stuff, as of Thursday night.

Wednesday Sarah did a couple of radio interviews, starting with Glenn Beck:





The big news coming out of this interview is the fact Sarah will be appearing at Glenn Beck’s 8/28 Restoring Honor celebration in Washington, D.C.. You can bet she will add greatly to the event.

We all loved George Bush. The guy wasn’t perfect, but overall a decent man. Our biggest gripe with President Bush is he never fought back against his haters. Until Sarah came along, I had never seen so much hatred aimed at one individual. Of course, that’s all the left has, a burning hatred for anyone and anything that doesn’t conform to their diseased ideology, and of course, they lie about the subject of their hatred. If somehow hatred and lies were outlawed, Marxist-democrats would simply cease to exist.

The left can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas, so all they have is their hate to fuel them.

Bush would never fight back, something that frustrated his loyal supporters to no end. Even when they made movies, wrote plays and books, all detailing their fantasies of Bush’s assasination, Bush said nothing. Can you imagine that thin skinned loser we have in the White House now being so strong? Me neither.

Bush thought it beneath the dignity of the Office of the President to engage in that sort of thing. Bush respected the presidency so much, he wouldn’t make it about him. While that is commendable to no end, the entire nation would have been to the better had Bush spent just a little bit of time fighting these rotten leftists.

Sarah Palin doesn’t have this problem. She is a born fighter. Sarah Palin is a fearless warrior. She doesn’t take nothin’ off of nobody. I think that’s why Sarah resonates with Americans so strongly. America loves a fighter, and loves a winner. Sarah Palin is both. America respects a fighter. America NEEDS a fighter!

After Glenn Beck’s show, Sarah was a guest on the Sean Hannity radio show. Of course they talked about her pervert stalker, and the nonsense surrounding all of that, but they also talked policy, especially energy policy, and of course British Petroleum, and the oil spill.







Just to remind readers, Sarah has first hand experience in dealing with exactly the kind of situation those in the Gulf are facing. As an oil and gas regulator, Sarah was tough on the oil companies, and as Governor, she got even tough, creating an oversight agency to keep a better eye on things.

Sarah ended the oil companies’ cozy relationships with government regulators, and officials. In fact, she was so tough on the oil companies, that at one point she was accused of being anti-business. And yet, the lying media tries to paint her as an oil company shill. I imagine Sarah has a good laugh on that one!

Back to McGinnis, the perv, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly went off on him on Wednesday as well.





De-licious!

Now for some updates on McGinniss:

If you remember, Ben Smith over at Politico shared an e-mail from McGinniss’s son, that intimated the old man had lost it. Now Ben reported this as straight up fact. Today he is backpedaling and claiming it was sarcasm.

I’m not a trained "journalist" or writer, but I know enough to let people know, when quoting someone else, whether we are dealing with sarcasm, or not. After all, Smith is the one who had the contact with Joe Jr., not us. Smith has had further contact with Joe Jr., and as Stacy Drake reported in her "neighbor" report above, Joe Jr’s credibility isn’t a hell of a lot better than his creepy stalker dad’s!

Let’s take Ben Smith at his word though. There is still plenty of proof that McGinniss is a creepy stalker, and most certainly hung up on Sarah Palin. We told you that McGinniss tried to bid on dinner with Sarah, offering up $60,000. There is a lot more.

When Sarah was on her book tour, freak boy followed her around. He "broke" the big story that yes, Sarah Palin flies on airplanes. Just how deranged is this idiot? He went crazy reporting on the fact that during Sarah’s book tour, she wasn’t on the Bus 24/7. This "astonishing revelation" was, of course, reported breathlessly by the lamestream media, showing what morons the entire bunch are.

As normal people understood, .... they could actually read her daily schedule....and understand the words....Sarah’s schedule was hectic. Many days she had two or three signings in one day, and many times these signings were quite a distance a part. Far enough apart that there was physically no way one could drive there in the time allotted to travel. It was beyond ridiculous for anyone to make something of this, but this is how pathetic these people are.

Besides shadowing Sarah on the book signing trail, McGinniss also showed up in Alaska, ignoring all of the "no trespassing" signs (which makes the story below even funnier) and tried to give Sarah one of his books.

Knowing all we know about Joe McGinniss, so far, it’s safe to say he’s a freak, a creep, and a stalker. But it gets better.

Josh Painter reported today that some reporters came calling on Joe:


Joe McGinness to ABC News: "Get off my property!"


ABC News discovers that stalker Joe McGinness is also a hypocrite:

McGinniss, who is being accused of invading the Palins' privacy, himself claimed that his was being invaded when ABC News knocked at his door to get a comment.

"Get off, you're trespassing," McGinniss said through his window. "I am going to have to call the Wasilla police. Get off my property, now, I am going to put in the call." 

It's not your property, Joe. You're just renting.

This little stunt of yours was a lot of fun for you and your leftist fellow travelers when you thought you could intimidate Gov. Palin and her family wasn't it? But when the shoe went on the other foot, you sure lost your cool fast! That's the thing with "progressives." They love to dish it out, but they can't take it.

How delicious is THAT! What a jackass this guy is. Josh has more, with video, here.

Bluegrass Pundit adds this little tidbit to the mix:


ABC News reporter Neal Karlinsky goes to the house McGinniss is living in and tries to talk to him. McGinniss tells Karlinsky to "get off my property," and threatens to call the Wasilla police! He has now even posted "No Trespassing" Signs on the property!

This degenerate had absolutely no problem ignoring Sarah Palin’s no trespassing signs in his deranged pursuits, but expects people to respect the ones he’s thrown up. This reminds me of an interviewer who cornered Obama’s buddy, murdering domestic terrorist William Ayers to ask some questions. Now bear in mind, this is a guy who bombed police stations, and is married to a convicted cop killer. What do you think happened? That tool called the police, of course! Incredibly, they even showed up.The left has no shame.

McGinniss is a real loser, for sure, but this story just gets better. (Or worse, depending on how you score it) .

Rich Clowther at Conservatives4Palin deliciously skewers our buddy Dave Weigel, but also reports some not so shocking detail on who this loser McGinniss hangs with when he is in Alaska. While absolutely wearing Weigel out, Clowther writes:


Well the Palins see things differently, Mr Weigel. They have a different perspective, one borne of distressing, real life, personal experience.

They and their children have lived through the unprecedented harassment of the last 20 months: the email hacking which led to frightening phone calls to their eldest daughter in the middle of the night; the 26 ethics complaints which stifled the Palin Administration and came to nought; the deliberately malicious attempt to cause controversy and split a family with fabrication about divorce; the attacks on their most vulnerable child; the lie that the Palins were under federal investigation for embezzlement; the burningn of their church; the hate speak Trig Troofing conspiracies of Andrew Sullivan and Jesse Griffin and a notorious European blog; the misogynistic invective of a local Alaska Democratic Party office holder.... they’ve lived through all that and more David Weigel… and could perhaps be forgiven that they seem inclined to be wary, less magnanimous than you, less inclined to exercise equilibrium.

When Joe McGinniss moves in next door they don’t see that action as divorced from the context of the previous 20 months, as you appear to do, Mr Weigel.

Sure they remember that as an investigative journalist McGinniss has been critical of their mother… but, unlike you, perhaps they also remember who Joe’s friends are, with whom Joe chooses to socialize when he visits Alaska:


I [Jesse Griffin] found the table that our host Phil Munger had reserved for us and sat down with some of his other guests, who I did not know, but who turned out to be fans of both IM and Mudflats. (Oh did I mention that AKM was with me?)

Soon I was introduced to author Joe McGinniss, who is up here researching HIS Sarah Palin book, and who also turned out to be a huge fan of both AKM's and I. (I swear I will NEVER get used to hearing that.)

Mr. McGinniss entertained us with tales of the colorful characters he has met while doing research for the book he is currently working on and back in the 1970's for his novel Going to Extremes.

Readers will wish to avoid opening this link to theimmoralminority but they (and the Palins) know all about those with whom McGinniss hangs out,


• The liberal Alaska blogger and Palin-hater Jesse Griffin (who attacks the Palin family every day, and tells his readers he knows that Sarah Palin is not the mother of her fifth child, and who advocates the even more lunatic conspiracy that there are in fact three different versions of her fifth child)

• The local Alaska Democratic Party office holder and Palin hater Phil Munger (who tells his readers that Governor Palin is a slut and a whore)

• The Alaska based Huffington Post correspondent and Palin hater Jeanne Devon (who has accused the Palins of being tax cheats, and who is BFF with Alaska based blogger Shannyn Moore, the person who announced mendaciously on MSNBC that the Palins were under federal investigation)
… and knowing all this about Joe McGinniss and the "despicable" company he keeps, when he turns up next door the Palins instantly feel less safe in their own home, Mr Weigel.

Ahhh, the circle of life, and dirtbags, is complete.

You can read the whole thing here. It’s worth it, just to read the Weigel take down!

New readers may not be familiar with all of these names, but they make up Barack Obama’s hand picked Alaska Mafia. © These people were hand picked by Barack Obama’s then Senate Chief-Of-Staff, and now White House adviser, Pete Rouse, who still coordinates attacks on Sarah, from these degenerate bloggers in Alaska. Rouse is an Alaskan, like several other Obama staffers, including the infamous Mao lover, Anita Dunn.

These reprobates and malcontents, are the people who were given access to the Huffington Post, and MSNBC, so they could publish lies, and hate with ease. They were also the ones who recruited people to file all of the bogus ethics complaints against Sarah, all of which she was found innocent of any wrong doing.

Of course, these are the people who cost the Alaska taxpayers $2 million dollars, as the state had to investigate all of this nonsense. This was one of the reasons Sarah pulled the plug on her job as Governor. The people of Alaska simply didn’t deserve to be robbed of their hard earned money by a bunch of Marxist filth.

We continually write about the Alaska Mafia © but if you want a good background on these people, what they are about, and see the video Obama really doesn’t want you to see, you can go here.

Our buddy Doug Brady, also from C4P has even more to add, going back to the house deal:


The claim that the Palins owe their neighbor money is exceedingly difficult to believe on several levels. McGinniss claims the Palins owe the neighbor for "renovations" she performed for them. Really? Along with a few buddies, Todd built the Palins' home. The Palins are currently adding a 6,000 square foot addition with Todd heavily involved in the construction. In addition, Todd has managed to put up a rather large fence in just a couple days. Todd Palin doesn't strike me as someone who would need help with "renovations" from an absentee neighbor. He seems to be managing just fine without said neighbor's renovating expertise, wouldn't you say?

Moreover, are we really expected to believe that the Palins stiffed their neighbor for a bill and we're only finding out about it now? We're to believe that the neighbor was so angry over this that she sought out Joe McGinniss to get payback instead of running straight to the media (or at least the leftist bloggers in Alaska)? She could have been a folk hero to Keith Olbermann's seven viewers. But if she was really interested in collecting money from the Palins, she could have simply answered her phone.

[...]

To sum this up, the Palins rented the house last summer to avoid the very situation in which they find themselves this summer. Further, the Palins repeatedly tried to contact the neighbor all winter to rent the house again this summer or, if possible, buy the property. Despite these efforts, the Palins could not get the absentee neighbor to return their calls. Hmmmmmm. Now I'll admit to having no bill collecting experience but, it seems to me, that if someone owed me money and they were calling me, I'd take the call. But that's just me...

It's pretty clear that the entire tale of the Palins owing a neighbor money for some unspecified renovations is ludicrous on its face. Does anyone seriously think the Palins don't pay their bills? Even Ben Smith appeared to question the veracity of the neighbor's claim by updating his post to note the Palins repeated attempts to contact her:
UPDATE: Palin told Glenn Beck yesterday that her husband had been "trying to get hold of [the neighbor] all winter long" to ask about renting or buying the place, in part "for fear of something like this happening."
Mr. McGinniss, through his son, appears to be trying to change the subject from his bizarre behavior. Conduct which has even been criticized as "outrageously, unnecessarily intrusive" by a left-wing Palin-critic at the Washington Post. Stalking is the only accurate term to describe the following actions undertaken by Mr. McGinniss: illegally ignoring the Palin's no trespassing signs to hand deliver books, outrageously bidding for the Ride2Recovery charity dinner so he could harass Governor Palin, chasing Governor Palin at book signing(s), and now this latest stunt.

You can read more from Doug here.

BTW, Greta has photos of the fence here.

I have to ask readers. If you had to put up with one tenth of the crap the Palins have to put up with, would you still be able to be the warrior Sarah is, and never back down? I wonder if the GOP establishment show ponies could handle it.

I’m with Glenn Beck on one thing for sure. Todd Palin deserves some sort of an award. You must know the urge to grab a few of these devils by the neck and just beat the hell out of ‘em is hard to suppress. Todd is a much better man than I, for sure. As Sarah says, he has the patience of Job.

We cheer for Sarah daily, celebrate her grit, and determination. I think we should all raise a glass every now and again, and toast Todd Palin, he’s earned it!

As delicious as all of the above is, I saved the desert for last.

Since the Washington Post’s "Conservative Republican Insider" Dave Weigel, decided to attack Sarah Palin for being so rude as to defend herself and her family, we've hit him pretty hard already, which we linked to above. We stand by the assertion that Weigel is a first class a-hole. A complete and total loser. Now, we can add scumbag and liar to his resume.

Both Red State’s Erick Erickson, and Dr Melissa Clouthier went after Weigel hard, and both smack downs are epic, but I came away with a couple of things.

Again, Weigel tries to pass himself off as the "Conservative Republican Insider." Erickson outs the guy though. It seems that Weigel voted for Al Gore, John Kerry....who served in Vietnam, and Barack Obama. I know a lot of real Conservatives, and absolutely none of them would vote for that axis of evil.

Erickson points out that Weigel once wrote for publications funded by Nazi collaborator, and self-proclaimed "owner of the democrat party" George Soros. This is Dr Evil himself. Ian Fleming’s Ernst Stavro Blofeld come to life. If Weigel wrote for him, he’s no conservative, he’s a plant, a phony.

Erickson writes:

In fact, if you go through Dave’s archives you’ll find a slew of stories from the most recent one as I write
to others that no one on the right really cares about, but people on the left who see the right collectively as fringe will eat up. And that’s the whole point of why he’s there.

There’s nothing unique about this situation. If the job is to cover the right from "inside the conservative movement," that’s not actually happening. It’s like they put Weigel in a gorilla costume to infiltrate some gorillas in the mist and he stumbled into the wrong camp and is now reporting on activity completely unrelated to what actually matters. Never mind that the Washington Post’s online coverage of conservatives reflects a view that gorillas are more civilized than conservatives. And never mind that Weigel’s reporting is clouded with the groupthink you get among up-and-coming self-styled thinker/journalists who live together in D.C., are out to have an impact, but have never lived outside the clique.

Insular groupthink journalism isn’t just useless because it doesn’t talk about what’s really going on, but because it only exists to coo at the pet ideas of the epistemic closure elites, usually preceded by a Media Matters press release to help direct their path.

Sure, Dave Weigel is a nice guy. But don’t treat his reporting from "inside the conservative movement" as serious when he clearly is not on the inside. He’s there because of what he wrote for publications funded by Tim Gill and George Soros, he’s there to track the fringe, to make the fringe look like the middle, and to dig in on agenda-based topics which kowtow to the narrow views of DC elites. His smarter readers know that’s the case, and are just there to enjoy the ride — the only one who seems to think otherwise is the adolescent naif Ezra Klein, late of the Center for American Progress, who doesn’t have any journalistic incentive to be objective toward the right or even passably fair.

Dr. Clouthier writes:

Like Erick, I like Dave Weigel–in the same way I liked the trained Siberian Tigers at the Sigfried and Roy show: they look interesting and exotic, but are extraordinarily dangerous–as poor Roy learned the hard way. A journalist is a wild animal with an appetite for conservative meat and should be interacted with that way–always.

I do not expect Dave to be unbiased or fair. I do not expect him to defend a conservative point-of-view, ever, and therefore, I’m not disappointed or offended when he snaps off some pithy, demeaning, diminishing remark about conservatives or conservatism generally.

When he says something sufficiently irritating, I might respond, but mostly, I suppress the urge as it’s useless. Joking at a conservative’s expense and yucking it up is easy peasy. Everyone does it. So trendy.

So no, I don’t take Dave Weigel seriously. I think he’s a gifted writer and has interesting insight. He has an sophisticated mind and I enjoy talking to him. But he’s as ideologically left as the rest, he’s just willing to lower himself to hang with the natives from time to time. And he’s welcome to do so. Conservative people treat him with more kindness because he is willing to at least publicly view conservatives as a species of human. When it comes down to it though, his reporting sounds like reports from the out-back bush.

It would be fascinating to see what conservative, inside the conservative mind, reporting would look like. Too exotic for the Washington Post, that notion. Better stick with blogs.

Fascinating stuff, for sure. You can read more here.

Weigel is a phony, a fraud. I’ve never been a fan anyway, but it’s quite aggravating to see this clown try and pass himself off as one of us. (or at least claim to cover us "from the inside") What’s despicable though is the way he attacked Sarah Palin for simply standing up for herself and her family when being assaulted by a deranged stalker. Tells you all you need to know about Dave Weigel.

Stay tuned, I’m sure there will be more to talk about as this saga continues

Video courtesy of PalinTV

Shame on You, Joe!!! A Post by Conservative Girl with a Voice


There are a lot of words I could use to describe this character Joe McGinniss, but I have promised myself that I would keep this blog as clean as possible. For those of you out there who don’t know Joe, he is the whacky guy who tried to bid on dinner with the Sarah for the auction she participated in some months back. He also is known to follow the gov around. And if that isn’t enough, now he has moved in right next door to Sarah Palin and her family. Now, usually a new neighbor is welcomed into the neighborhood with open arms and potluck foods or some yummy homemade cookies, but this neighborhood situation is a little bit different. This is because Joe’s latest stunt is penning a book about Governor Palin and her family. This guy is not decent in any sense of the word, and nothing good could come from his writing this book.

This guy is out to target and destroy Sarah, and it seems nothing other than maybe a very high fence can keep him out. I don’t deny that it is this man’s First-Amendment right to write any sort of book he wants to, but did he really have to move right next door to the Palin family to write it? This is not only creepy, but downright outrageous. If I was Sarah or Todd, I would feel very uncomfortable for my children and grandchild to be outside in the backyard with this gentleman living right next door. A family’s home should be a personal castle. This man is acting more like a member of the paparazzi than a friendly neighbor. If this man has any dignity at all, he will respect the Palin family’s privacy, but something tells me this man will not give up until he has the expose he seems so intent on writing. I do not blame Sarah for being upset. I find it hypocritical that members of the loony liberal left are calling her a crybaby, but defend celebrities from the paparazzi. I do not see the difference. Once again, the liberal left have no shred of common decency when it comes to defending Sarah Palin. They are unable to clearly see when a line has been crossed. The Palin family is no different from any other family in that they too deserve their privacy. It would be very wise for Mr. McGinniss if he wised up and realized this. It is clear he has not wised up yet, but maybe he will when hears the construction going on next door with the construction of that huge fence, which I learned Todd just completed. Todd and Sarah, I have a suggestion for you: If it is not too late, paint the side of the fence facing Mr. McGinniss’ house a really ugly shade of chartreuse. That way, he’ll have something to look at and get the welcome he REALLY deserves.

(Click here to visit Conservative Girl with a Voice and become a follower. Follow me on Twitter @rachellefriberg.)
Punishing the Class for a few Bad Apples!

Here we go again. A tragic situation has turned into a politic event. I find it difficult to understand why it has taken so long to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and why the President feels all Americans should be punished by stopping all drilling offshore. As I pondered the President’s remarks on the BP oil spill yesterday, I decided to take a look at the time line of events since the explosion of the oil rig on April 20.

Detailed time lines can be found here and here. An animated map showing the locations of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico for each day since April 25, when the slick was first measured can be found here.

Time line:

April 20: The Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caught fire. Of the 126 people on board, 17 were injured and 11 are still missing (presumed dead).2

April 22: The Deepwater Horizon sank.

April 24: Officials discovered that the underwater “riser” structure used to connect the rig to the well was damaged and was leaking oil into the ocean. 2

April 26: Search and rescue operations ended with 11 people still unaccounted for. Officials also stated that it would take months to fix the leak even with the use of “sophisticated” underwater robots. 2

April 28: The United States Coast Guard considered setting fire to the oil in the hope of keeping some of it form reaching sensitive ecological area on the shores of the Gulf. 2

April 29: Officials announced that approximately 5,000 barrels of oil per day was leaking and not the originally estimated 1,000 barrels a day.

April 30: The oil slick was estimated to cover 6,000 square miles.

May 1: A small not for profit group, SkyTruth, analyzed satellite imagery and radar images to estimate that the oil was leaking much faster than the original estimates from the officials.

May 3: BP tried to install a shutoff valve on one o the three leaks underwater but was not successful. 2

May 5: BP stated that they were able to plug one of the leaks.

May 5: Plan to use a containment dome to stop one of the leaks failed.

May 11: Secretary Salazar announced that he will be restructuring the Minerals Managements Service in the hopes of establishing a separate and independent safety and environmental enforcement committee. 1

May12: Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu traveled to Houston to attend meetings with DOE and national lab staff, and others to discuss solutions to cap the leak and contain the spill.

May 14: Pres. Obama announced he had order Sec. Salazar to conduct a “top to bottom” review of the Minerals Management Service. 1

May 15: Sec. Napolitano and Sec. Salazar sent a letter to BP CEO stating the BP is accountable to the American Public for the complete costs of the cleanup of the spill as well as the economic losses related to the oil spill.

May 16: A riser insertion tube tool was inserted into the riser that was leaking. An estimated 2,000 barrels per day were captured by the tool.

May 17: A second drill rig started drilling a second well for relief.

May 19: Sec. Salazar signed an order leading to the fundamental restructuring of the Minerals Management Service. Energy and Environment Subcomittee Chairman Edward Markey asked that BP make public its live video feed of the leak point.

May 20: Sec. Napolitano announced that Coast Guard Adm. Allen would stay as the national incident commander for the Administration’s “continued, coordinated response to the spill” even after he stepped down from his position as Coast Guard Commandant. 1

May 22: Pres. Obama signed an order that established the bipartisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. This new commission will recommend how to prevent and mitigate the impact of any spills in the future. 1

May 23: A containment boom was deployed. Approximately 10.2 million gallons of water-oil mix had been recovered.

May 24: An estimated 65.6 miles of the Louisiana coast had been impacted by the oil. Secretary of Commerce Locke declared a disaster for both commercial and recreational fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. 1

May 25: BP began the use of “top killing” the leak by filling the leaks with mud.

May 27: Pres. Obama announced that he is extending the moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and canceled plans for Virginia while stopping drilling in Alaska.

After researching this tragic situation, I found it very frustrating that the government is punishing the rest of the country because the officials at BP did not do their jobs. By stopping current drilling and canceling plans for future leases, Pres. Obama is locking down our chances of economic recovery as well as opening us to being less secure as we buy more and more oil from other countries. Gov. Palin addressed these issued in her Facebook note on May 24:



The Obama administration claims that it “will not rest until we get this situation under control,” but in practice it’s evident that it must do more to stop a potential environmental disaster from happening. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen probably summed it up best when he described the Obama Administration’s approach to this crisis as “keeping a close watch” while BP is tackling the problem – at the company’s own pace. While the Administration watches from the sidelines, the Gulf Coast states face some potential disaster. This raises serious questions. Should it really take nine whole days before the Administration asked the Department of Defense for help in deploying equipment needed for the extreme depth spill site? Why is Governor Jindal still waiting, 35 days later, for material needed to tackle the oil spill to protect the coast’s environment and for federal approval to build offshore sand barriers to protect his state’s coast line? Is it correct that the Coast Guard was initially unwilling to burn off the oil for fear of causing air pollution (which would have been far less harmful than the current water pollution)?These questions all require answers. In the meantime, let me make a constructive suggestion to help the White House out of its current impasse. They should reach out to the best oil and gas team in the nation and tap into its expertise. I know just the team: Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, led by Commissioner Tom Irwin. Having worked with Tom and his DNR team as Governor, I can vouch for their expertise and their integrity in dealing with Big Oil and overseeing its developments.

Please visit Gov. Palin’s Facebook page to read her complete statements.

I do believe that Pres. Obama was successful in garnering bipartisan support, but I don’t think he got it in the way he was planning. Sen. Mark Begich spoke with Neil Cavuto on May 27, 2010. Sen. Begich (D-AK) talked adamantly about how Alaska is falling victim to the failures of BP. He criticized the president’s move to restrict drilling in the Arctic. You can watch the video here. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D) also stated in an article by MSNBC that he believes the president's annoucement might affect the Commonwealth financially.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA) are also concerned with the economic fallout from Pres. Obama’s decision. Gov. McDonnell issued a statement yesterday:

“The environmental disaster still unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico is unprecedented and devastating. The full attention of the federal government, as well as state and local governments and the private sector companies involved should appropriately be focused on permanently capping this leak and cleaning up the oil that has been spilled. The images from Louisiana and around the Gulf are stunning, and it will take significant time and resources to fully recover from this tragedy. The Commonwealth of Virginia is prepared to assist in those efforts, should our services be required or useful. I have previously called Governor Bobby Jindal to inform him of our willingness to help. He is doing excellent work in leading his state’s response.
Similarly, it will take significant time to fully investigate and evaluate what took place at the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20th and in the ensuing weeks. This accident must lead to necessary improvements in offshore exploration and drilling technology and safety, and the implementation of new safeguards and regulations moving forward. This process will make it difficult to move forward with the lease sale currently scheduled off the coast of Virginia in 2012. Thus, I understand the decision the President has made today. While I respect his decision, and the need for delay and investigation, I do not believe outright cancellation was the only alternative given the fact that this sale was not due to occur until two years from now, and actual drilling would likely take place years after that. The two-year environmental impact statement already underway would provide ample information about the wisdom of proceeding on to an actual lease sale.”
Read Gov. McDonnell’s complete statement here.

Along the same lines, Congressman Wittman issued a strong statement:

“My visit to the Gulf, and this week’s Natural Resources Committee hearings have made clear to me that the federal government must focus 100% on stopping the Gulf oil spill and cleaning up the impacted coastlines. It is increasingly frustrating that 38 days into this crisis, industry and the federal government have not been able to stop the spill.

The President’s announcement today to significantly curtail further offshore energy production, including canceling a planned lease sale off the coast of Virginia, while well intentioned may set a precedent that weakens our national security and increases our reliance on imported foreign energy.

It is appropriate to carefully review and ensure that offshore energy production is appropriately regulated and conducted in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner. However, it is also critical that we promote responsible American made energy, including oil, natural gas, nuclear, coal, and renewable energy.” Click here to visit Congressman Wittman’s website.

As a concerned citizen, I feel that our government has dropped the ball here. Instead of looking for scapegoats and placing blame, they need to listen to the people with experience to stop this current leak and to continue to drill in a responsible manner.

Gov. Palin was the top executive of the nation’s largest oil producing state and I will trust her when she says in her April 30, 2010 Facebook note:

“All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.”

On one final note, I give you a time line of a different sort. Below is the time line of posts to twitter by both Gov. Palin and the White House in the days after the explosion in the Gulf.


Tweets from @SarahPalinUSA

May 27 "I never say drill,baby,drill" Ahh, that's much of the problem,Mr.President;Drill ANWR&unlock land for safe onshore devlpmnt/energy security

Passing The Buck Doesn’t “Plug the D#*! Hole” http://fb.me/AO2fPdT2

Deep offshore moratorium? Then correspondingly allow more onshore drilling, incl ANWR reserves. Domestic oil's still required in US industry

Fri, President may put down the golf clubs & fundraiser fork 40 days into Gulf gusher to finally grasp this tragedy?Carville's right on this

May 24 Big Oil: Learning from Alaska’s Experience http://fb.me/yvJYjTA1

May 23 Mr. Gibbs, Obama is the top recipient of BP PAC & individual money over the past 20 years. http://u.nu/5vpia Dispute these facts. 1:10 PM May 23rd via web
Mr. Gibbs, BP gave over $3.5mill to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with with the largest amount going to Obama http://u.nu/5vpia
May 13 Oil spill states:FIGHT that 150-yr-old,irrelevant maritime law thats used as claim to NOT apply remedy to innocent injured people;Alaska did
May 5 Gulf: learn from Alaska's lesson w/foreign oil co's: don't naively trust- VERIFY. Livelihood affected by spill?Don't sign away remedy rights

April 30 Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe http://fb.me/tgHWkTSB

Having worked/lived thru Exxon oil spill,my family&I understand Gulf residents' fears.Our prayers r w/u.All industry efforts must b employed

April 25 Prayers for everyone impacted by the terrible oil rig disaster off the coast of Louisiana,
especially families of the missing workers.


Tweets from @whitehouse

May 27 Starting soon: Obama speaks to the press on BP & more. http://wh.gov/live (or on your WH iPhone app as always)

On tap: 12:45 Obama speaks to the press at length on BP & other issues. http://wh.gov/live

May 26 Obama heading to Gulf Friday. Latest on Administration-wide response to BP oil spill here: http://bit.ly/9iGNNT

May 22 Weekly Address: Obama names co-chairs of independent oil spill commission, accountability for BP, govt http://bit.ly/9UzIna

May 14 Obama pledges ongoing full response on spill, calls BP/Halliburton finger-pointing "ridiculous spectacle" http://bit.ly/91UnJV

Starting momentarily: Obama gives an update on BP spill response efforts, watch live http://wh.gov/live

May 10 A busy day here, but the President has not taken his eye off the BP spill http://bit.ly/90NYXy

May 5 Detailed, thorough timeline from Day 1: The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the BP Oil Spill http://bit.ly/aYOIA3

May 4 "Holding BP Accountable": Pfeiffer posts on ensuring BP pays, WH support for raising damages cap http://bit.ly/dctrx6

May 2 New photo gallery: The President in the Gulf Coast http://bit.ly/9Fwty3

Transcript: Gibbs press briefing on BP oil spill aboard AF1 en route to Louisiana with Obama http://bit.ly/bwRRgb

May 1 Gibbs: Update on response to the BP spill http://bit.ly/ahevm9

April 30 Gibbs post: The Response to the Oil Spill So Far http://tiny.cc/cv46n


There are many who feel Gov. Palin is unintelligent, has no experience, doesn’t know what she is talking about. Well, I disagree. If she were in the White House, she would have responded to this crisis on day one. As you can see by the twitter time line. The current administration was late by 7 days! You be the judge.



Footnotes:
1. http://beforeitsnews.com/news/50/386/Timeline_of_Events_in_BP_Oil_Spill:_Day_by_Day,_April_20_to_May_26.html

2. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/gulfofmexico-oilspill-whatwhenwhere-whatyoucando.html